PlayStation All-Stars: Endgame
by Coleiosis
Summary: After what had happened before Christmas, Calypso realized that Ratchet still had stolen his powers! The mission was not complete yet! Yet Mr. Ash, Minion, and Black say that the powers belong to them, as well as the Ring of Souls. Ratchet faces his darkest moment as he is about to be put to death by these evil ones! Rated T for scary situations, blood, and mild violence


PlayStation All-Stars: Endgame

By Cole Bezotte

Celebrating Coleiosis' 20th FanFiction Story!

**Note: one asterisk (*) means the beginning of one scene, and two asterisks (**) means a transition to the next scene. Enjoy!**

*****A usual weekday of pouring rain, drenching anything it touches, taking place at a busy city where celebrities meet. Police officers directed any traffic necessary while drivers honked the horns of their cars. Stoplights flashed bright lights across the streets as the rainclouds covered the entire scene with darkness. Pedestrians walked on the sidewalks, carrying their usual suitcases for their jobs. Things were pretty dull as they always were.

But nobody even knew that they were being watched. Located in a dark alley, leaning against a damaged building, stood a garbage trunk. Inside that box were two mysterious figures that nobody would ever expect to see in a city. One of the flaps of the trunk opened up, and a strange figure peaked out to see if the coast was clear. He then went back into the box and spoke with his companion: "Perhaps now is the time to strike, Black."

Indeed, one of the figures that were in the garbage trunk was Black, Mr. Ash's deadly pet. He was taken by Calypso and was stripped of his powers for Calypso's own use. After fighting so hard, Mr. Ash came to take Black back to their base at the Underworld. Years later, during Christmas time, Black took possession of Dark Tooth and planned to use it to destroy all of Christmas. But the good guys were too strong, and they became victorious again. Before Black surrendered to the good guys, Mr. Ash sent him back to the Underworld to meet with the creature known as Minion; Minion had a plan that would dare not fail, and he was already making his move while hiding with Black inside a garbage trunk.

Minion lifted the flap of the box again and saw that the coast was clear enough for him and Black to pass through. "Let's go," he whispered as he climbed out of there and pulled Black out onto the ground. The two of them quietly crept through the alleyway and looked out into the distance to see to two strange figures sitting on a bench. "I guess we'll be noticed in this rain anyway," Minion spoke up again, "because I see two guys up ahead."

And see them he did. Up ahead, on a rest bench, sat the two most recognizable figures imaginable. Ratchet the Lombax and Sasha Phyronix were sitting there, in the rain, only thinking about their relationship and love with each other. This was their last time seeing each other for now; Sasha had to go back to Kerwan to return to her term as mayor of Metropolis. So they had to embrace each other one last time before Sasha departed.**

*After all that was settled, Ratchet later on found himself inside the main home at Los Angeles. He and Sasha were trying to defuse a bomb that the villains planted in one of their long-way storage closets. Sasha was using a pair of hedge-clippers to snip the correct wires while being hidden behind a huge box to hide herself. The villains were in the house looking for some secrets hidden, and Ratchet and Sasha needed to stay hidden from them at all costs. If the villains were not satisfied with their search, they would blow up the entire house to bits and pieces.

"Hurry up, Sasha," Ratchet whimpered in fear. "I think I hear someone coming."

"Just a few more wires to cut," Sasha replied with confidence. "I'm almost done. Just keep hiding."

Ratchet hid behind a box right when he heard a door open. The sweat that he shed further spread down his head; it continued on until the man who entered was gone. Before the man left the room, Ratchet looked down onto the floor and was able to catch a quick glimpse of the shadow's shape. It was pretty obvious that Calypso would be the only man known to have such long hair. "Just my luck," Ratchet thought. "He's gone. Now we can get back to disabling that bomb."

But before Ratchet could reveal himself from his hiding place, he heard Sasha's voice from behind her box. "It seems as though it's alive," he heard Sasha exclaim.

Ratchet stood up for a moment and thought about something that struck his mind right there: "How can it be? Charlie Kane must still have some good in him. He's an innocent retired man who was just looking for his son. Why would he have so dark of a revenge. Dark… that word is always coming at me… making me think about… Dark Tooth. We've got to dismantle that bomb before any of the villains get a hold of Dark Tooth!"

After Ratchet did his thinking, he realized that he had not heard Sasha's voice for a while there. He pushed away the box to see if she was still there; but when he revealed her spot, she was not there! She was completely gone! "Sasha!" Ratchet exclaimed in surprise. "SASHA!"

But it was too late. The bomb was about to go off any second now, so Ratchet had to do something about it. He quickly crouched down to the floor to try to dismantle the bomb, but he could not find the hedge-clippers anywhere. Things were starting to get worse, and Ratchet had no idea what to do now.

All of a sudden, he began to feel very strange. The whole scenery around him began to change and transform mystically. Ratchet was getting very dizzy throughout all this, up until he found himself inside the home of the Kane family. He looked around and saw that Needles was holding his machete and was walking towards his own wife, about to kill her. That's when Ratchet realized: this was the time when Needles was murdering his family. Only his wife and youngest son were killed on the scene, and Sophie and Charlie (back then were not evil, nor had evil clown makeup) managed to get away.

"Marcus!" Needles' wife exclaimed. "MARCUS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" But it was too late; and out of his own madness, Needles had killed his own wife. He then started to head up the stairs and was heading for his kids, who were running with their lives desperately. This was indeed a dark day for the Kanes.

As Ratchet watched Needles charge for his own children, he felt a tear run down his face. He really wanted the real Marcus Kane to come back to the family that loved him so much, and not to become this random killer. Ratchet went up the stairs and saw that the youngest son was now dead as well. This crushed him even more than he ever thought possible; something had to be done quickly. Needles had already cornered his own daughter Sophie, ready to make the kill. Sophie had nothing to do at first, but then she found a pair of scissors that had come in handy later on. With the scissors, she smacked her father across the head and found the golden opportunity to run out of there… alive.

After she escaped, along with Charlie, Needles looked at a picture of his family that stood on a shelf. He looked deep into it as he started to hate his real self. "Marcus," he muttered. "How I hate being him! He was too soft and full of love! I HATE him! He's now me! And this is how I want things to be from now on!"

Needles turned and saw Ratchet standing there. He slowly pulled a pistol out of his pocket and aimed it at Ratchet's head as he hissed: "You're next!" He shot, but that did not bring death.

Ratchet merely felt the blow on his head as he threw himself forward a bit. It was not happening for real; Ratchet was only dreaming about being there on the scene of Needles' strange victory. After seeing Needles shoot in the dream, the bullet shot forwards at Ratchet's head, causing him to snap out of the dream. A simple blow like that would wake him up.

Ratchet turned in his bed and looked at the storage closet ahead of him. That closet was now a cruel reminder of the nightmare that he had just dreamt of. "I can't go on like this," he thought to himself. "How am I supposed to peacefully sleep at night without having to worry about that dang closet!? Sasha had already left tonight to head back to Kerwan, so now I'm left here hanging. I keep worrying about the doors of that closet opening and seeing that demonic devilish clown come at me with his chainsaw and machete. But I shouldn't worry; Sly Cooper is sleeping on the bottom bunk of this bed. He's here with me. And yet… I can't help but worry."**

*Meanwhile, as Ratchet was attempting to fall back asleep, a commotion was happening in the streets of Los Angeles. The childish girl Fat Princess was strolling on the sidewalk gobbling a large piece of cake that she had just bought from a nearby bakery. "Delicious," she exclaimed after eating her dessert.

But right around the corner stood a suspicious-looking man talking with two other figures. It was the evil incarnation of Cole MacGrath talking with Minion and Black. Before all this happened, back then about a couple of years ago, the warp explosion formed a complete opposite Cole MacGrath (while the real one still remains as a good guy).

"So let me get this straight," Evil Cole interrupted when Minion was speaking. "You want to get this ring as you call it, then you want to go get that punk Ratchet and take what he has in order to restore the power of the ring?"

"It's quite simple," Minion replied. "Nothing can stop us now!"

"Well then. Where can I find Calypso Industries?"

"WE DO NOT HAVE THE MAP," Black replied. "IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE WE'VE BEEN THERE!"

Evil Cole sighed. "Fine. You lost me. I'm going on my own if I can't trust you enough." But he changed his mind right then once he saw Fat Princess walking down the sidewalk. "That new ma'am. Now I've seen everything. Perhaps I can ask her for directions."

Fat Princess heard Evil Cole's voice and turned to face him. "Kind sir! Do YOU have any cake by chance?"

"I'm not looking for cake, princess!" Evil Cole replied. "I'm looking for a special place! Have you seen it?"

"Well! There's no need to be RUDE about it!"

"Well, you'll soon be WISHING for rude!"

"Bring it on! You ruffian!"

Evil Cole chuckled at Fat Princess' "foolishness" and "adorableness," and felt like this would truly be a great challenge for Fat Princess. He ignited his red-glowing powers from his arms. "Okay. Maybe instead of cake, I could shove my whole FOOT in your mouth!" The fight was on. Fat Princess may have been weakened heavily by Evil Cole's power, but her fat weight kept on pushing him down at most times. That was the thing that mostly annoyed him.

While the two of them were duking it out, Minion heard the sound of a bell go off. "Someone's giving Calypso a little visit. Maybe that's our queue! We must go there immediately! Come on, Black!"

"RIGHT BEHIND YOU, MINION," Black replied. And with that, he and Minion took off to see what was going on at the Calypso Industries main building.**

*As they were heading for the building, a strange man was walking around inside, circling around a table that was in front of him. And on top of that table laid Calypso, exhausted and weakened from the attack that Ratchet made on him days ago (during Christmas time). Ratchet had fed on his powers, leaving him weak and tired out. He had not gained his strength back after that commotion. In the meantime, someone was observing him struggle to get back up.

"Hello, Calypso," said the mysterious figure. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

Calypso opened back his eyes and saw who was standing over him. His face went pale right when he recognized who it was. "It can't be," he exclaimed. "Mister Ash! It's you!"

"Indeed it is, you mother-hot-fudge!" Mr. Ash replied "Why else would I enjoy coming here to hunt you down once again?"

"What are you here for? What do you want with me?"

"I wanted to discuss with you about something in particular: it's the Ring of Souls. You may not have noticed this, but I actually found it! And I have it with me."

"YOU HAVE IT?!" Calypso exclaimed. "Where is it?! Tell me where it is now!"

"I would be very glad to. But first I want to introduce you to a couple of my dearest friends." Mr. Ash had already heard the footsteps of Minion and Black coming into the room. Once they stopped in their tracks, they saw Calypso and smiled, knowing that this would certainly be his downfall.

"Minion!" Calypso said when he saw who was there. "And Black! But… how?!"

"You have easily forgotten," Mr. Ash replied. "Me and my friends dwell in the Underworld, where the monsters lurk without a human to notice them and report them. It's actually a very good system."

"I don't understand," Calypso said. "What are you doing with the Ring of Souls?!"

"See for yourself," Minion replied as he motioned to Black to show Calypso the ultimate weapon. Black lifted his hand, revealing that he had the very ring on his finger.

"THIS IS WHAT YOU DID TO ME," Black spoke up. "I WAS THE ONE TO POSSESS THIS RING FROM THE START! BUT SINCE YOU STOLE IT FROM ME AND ALL MY POWERS, I AM NOTHING BUT A VERY WEAK AND STUPID-LOOKING NOBODY! I NEED THE POWERS BACK INTO THIS RING SO THAT I CAN BE POWERFUL AGAIN! REMEMBER: MR. ASH GAVE ME MORE POWER THAN ANY OTHER UNDERWORLD CREATURE; HE GAVE ME THIS RING SO THAT I CAN BE A VERY STRONG CREATURE!"

"Wait a minute," Calypso interrupted. "I think I know what's happening now. Even after I lost the ring in that fight I had with Sweet Tooth over it, I still had such amazing power. Ratchet had stolen the power from me a few days ago, so he still might have it with him. We need to get that ring back!"

"What do you mean 'we,'" Mr. Ash spoke up. "We came here to also take you down."

"But why not join forces and become the most powerful allies? I did the same thing with Sweet Tooth and his family. By the way, where is he?"

"We'll find that out later. Right now, I want to talk about another thing: after you lost the ring, you died at one point. Am I correct?"

Calypso sighed and swallowed hard. He did not want to discuss about what happened a while after Needles lost his position as host of the Twisted Metal contest. He was granting Needles the wish of being removed from the curse that tormented him, and he gave him the serum that would heal him. He told him that if he went back to his ways of being a murderer, the curse would come back to haunt him. So Needles made the decision of giving up the serum and killing Calypso right there on the spot.

Calypso looked up at Mr. Ash and lowered down the collar of his own shirt to reveal stitches tied around his neck. He had been healed after what Needles had done to him. But after all that had happened, there was also the time when Needles came back to switch bodies with Calypso, and Calypso got shot on Needles' orders as the new host of Twisted Metal (again). Then there was that warp explosion that occurred causing everything to do both of the two things: bring everything back into place and mix things up (both at the same time). It brought Calypso back to life, it separated Needles from his split-personality Marcus safely, and it made Calypso's daughter Krista the mad want-to-be celebrity.

"I see," Mr. Ash said as he observed Calypso's stitched-up neck. "So that warp explosion had caused a lot more than I thought. No matter; we can talk about it later. Right now, we've got ourselves a soul to snatch."**

*In the meantime, Needles was lurking mysteriously around a prison building, where his son and daughter Charlie and Sophie were kept. Needles still had a regular face with the same beard as his split-personality Marcus. But this was a trick. A long while ago, Needles was captured and was taken to a secret place where he met the one known as Preacher for the first time. Preacher put a curse upon him that engulfed his face in fire; it was pain beyond excruciating that further haunted him.

But then he knew that Calypso was back to being the host of Twisted Metal, so if he won the competition he would have the curse removed from him. And so, after he won, he went to Calypso to have his terrible curse released; and to grant the wish, Calypso gave him the serum that would heal him. But Needles thought that he really liked his cruel ways of murdering, so he gave up the potion and killed Calypso. Even if he took the potion, the curse would return to him if he went back to his ways of killing.

Anyway, while Needles entered the jail building, he took off a mask that he wore. It was a trick all along; he easily deceived the good guys on Christmas Eve so that he could sneak into the house and steal away Clank. He even tricked Santa Claus into thinking he was now good. The face that he had on that night was a mask looking just like his real face (along with his split-personality Marcus'). After he took off the mask when he entered the building while holding Clank, he quickly reached into his pocket and took out his clown mask to put on over his cursed face. He was back to being the most wanted killer in town: SWEET TOOTH! He did not want to look at his real face; he thought that it was too soft and weak.

Once he snuck himself inside, he headed straight for the cell room where Charlie, Sophie, Mr. Grimm, and Yoshimitsu were kept. He looked through the bars of the cell, and they noticed him standing there with Clank. "Father," Charlie said as he walked over to the bars. "Where the fudge have you been?!"

"I was doing just what I needed," Needles replied. "After you guys got arrested, I got a call from a familiar person named Mister Ash. He told me about the Ring of Souls; he and his gang of Underworld creatures had just found it, and they told me that Ratchet still has the powers that Calypso had stolen from Black years ago. But the only way to get the powers back from Ratchet is to find juicy information about him; I stole his little robot buddy Clank so that I can read the data files that Ratchet saved in his system. I'll be able to find some weak spots and discover the ultimate way to kill him once and for all!"

"Pretty sneaky, I say. Well then. Get us out of here quickly, and we'll get our ultimate revenge on that puny Lombax. He is the last of his own species, so once we kill him we will finally make the species extinct!"

But little did the bad guys know that Clank was finally waking back up to activate himself. His photoreceptor eyes switched on, and his robotic limbs opened to land himself onto his feet. "Hey!" Clank exclaimed once he saw what was going on. "What am I doing here?!"

"The little squirt is awake!" Mr. Grimm said as he looked down at Clank. "He'll spoil everything! Get him!"

"That will be easier said than done, fella!" Clank replied as he pressed a button on his back; it activated the built-in power jets, and he flew out of the building to safety.

"That idiot!" Needles said as he watched Clank escape out of there. "He'll be ruining everything! But in the meantime, I'll think of a different plan and get you guys out of there."

"But…" Yoshimitsu interrupted as he stood up. "I already know enough about Ratchet and his father. The emperor had killed Kaden and his wife, yet Ratchet came to avenge him of the death he caused."

"I guess Emperor Tachyon was not as smart as he thought," Mr. Grimm replied. "Perhaps Ratchet is too strong."

"Hold your tongue," Needles spoke in. "Ratchet has never seen our ultimate plot about the ring. HE'LL NEVER KNOW WHAT HIT HIM!"**

*Once Clank escaped the jail building, away from the villains, he stopped for a moment when he got outside. He noticed that a red light was flashing on the side of his chest, indicating that his recording system was on. "Uh-oh," he said as he pressed the main recording button. "Someone's been tampering with this. That can't be good. I better listen to what was going on when I blacked out." So he rewound the tape that was inserted into him, then hit the "play" button. He listened to what the villains were planning and what their scheme was to lead them to.

"This isn't good at all," Clank said once he was done listening. "This means Ratchet is in some very serious trouble. I've got to find a way to help him. And yet, we've been losing most of our friends. Raiden has already left our team; he said he had some sort of special mission to fulfill. Perhaps if I can find some NEW guys, I'll be able to expose the bad guys of their plan. If only the guys I'm looking for can ever agree. But I've got to do this quickly before Ratchet notices that I've been gone."**

*Meanwhile, back at the main house, Ratchet was trying to fall back asleep. He successfully did, but he ended up receiving another dream. He dreamt of the time when Charlie Kane (Needles' father), driver of Yellow Jacket, had won the Twisted Metal competition and wished for the evidence of where his son Needles was.

"As winner of my contest," Calypso spoke as he sat on his throne of broken car parts, "I shall now grant any prize you request."

"Well sir," Charlie replied as he smiled nervously and stepped out of his car, "I need some information. My son disappeared from me twenty years ago, and I haven't seen him since…"

Calypso frowned and handed Charlie a file folder that contained Needles' main data. Charlie flipped through the pages, with his heart pounding very hard; this was the moment that he finally found out where his son was throughout the twenty years of sadness. Sweat ran down his face as he read the data that was spelled out in front of him. "This isn't right," he said once he read the name. "His name is really MARCUS, not Needles."

"Although," Calypso replied, "he almost gave away his name when he was signing up for this contest."

"He must have changed his name to hide from me. This is ridiculous! My son is now the insane clown in the ice cream truck?! I can't believe this!"

"And…" Calypso added, "thanks to you, he has been defeated by you in our great fight. That was the best battle I've seen in over ten years. Hard to believe you ARE the father of the insane clown in the ice cream truck."

"So… because of me… I killed him?!"

"It appears so," Calypso confirmed (almost). "Unless you merely INJURED him. But, either way, you defeated him."

"This is not right. I can't go on like this. This is all my fault!"

"But what if it ISN'T? What if I told you that there is no need to move on… no need to die?"

"What do you mean?!"

Calypso held up a red-colored potion in a glass beaker and handed it to Charlie with assurance. "Here; this is the solution to all your problems. You are a lucky man."

As Charlie grasped the potion, he looked into it very carefully as he saw the red liquid flow around inside the beaker. "Now wait a minute! I don't want THIS!"

"Come on, Mr. Kane! What have you got to lose?" Calypso smiled hideously again as he sat there on his throne, waiting for the moment to come. It seemed like he already knew that he was in a dream that Ratchet was having while in his sleep.

Charlie raised the beaker to his lips and slowly drank the red potion that would do something very mysterious to him. Once he was finished, he found that it was pretty safe until… "That's strange; it tastes like… GGGAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"

That is when Ratchet snapped out of his strange dream. The as he opened his eyes, it felt like his throat was burning rapidly because of the potion. Although, Charlie never drank the potion at all when the event happened for real years ago. He only left Calypso's garage, filled with shame and grief that his son had become a monster.

Ratchet came back to his senses as his eyes became accustomed to the dark again. He looked around the room and was worried about the storage closets again. "What's happening to me?!" he thought to himself. "I'm I going crazy, or am I really losing my mind completely?! I can't go on like this! If only I could fall asleep one more time; this time, I'll try hard not to have such terrible nightmares about the Kane family! They've been through such terrible times, and I must put a stop to Needles' life of evil and terror!"

And with that, Ratchet put his head back onto his pillow. He tried with all his might to go back to sleep, but it was very difficult because he was already wide awake. And also, it was 2:00 a.m. in the morning; this was indeed a long night for Ratchet.**

*Also, in the meantime, the mysterious Colonel Radec was wandering the streets as well as Evil Cole had been. "So," Radec thought to himself, "that strange transmission I had received is summoning me to the giant building of Calypso Industries. I shall reach there the next morning before any do-gooder wakes up."

But, as he was thinking, someone appeared and showed himself. It was the knight Sir Daniel Fortesque sliding over to Radec, asking for directions.

Radec turned to face Daniel and tried to motion him away. "One side! I have work to do."

But Daniel did not walk away. He still went on and continued to ask for directions to some place. "Which way is the Los Angeles Apple Orphanage?" He was looking for Ratchet and the rest of the team of good guys; he wanted to join their group as a replacement for Raiden.

Radec did not hear Daniel clearly. Daniel cannot speak out complete English since he has a crooked skull for a head. "Speak CLEARLY!" Radec replied.

"I'm trying to find the Los Angeles Orphanage!" Daniel repeated himself louder.

"You should've moved when you had the chance! Now are you going to stand there mumbling or are you going to use that sword of yours?!" With that, Radec drew a dagger out of the sheath of the armor that covered his entire body.

Daniel looked down at the sword and shield that he held in both his hands. He was certainly ready for this battle that would come here and now.

"Good," Radec spoke up again. "Let's begin this!"

But later on, somewhere in the middle of their battle, Clank came walking into the scene and saw Radec and Daniel duking it out right there. He aimed a fist at Radec and blasted a miniature missile-rocket that shot at Radec's chest, blowing him back. Daniel looked down at Clank and saw that he had come to ask for help. "Clank," Daniel spoke up. "Boy am I glad to see you!"

"It's nice to see you too, Daniel," Clank replied. "I did miss you after that incident with Sackboy grown giant. It was a pretty bold decision to give up the plan that Needles devised. But anyway, I need your help. Ratchet is in big trouble, and we need to help him fast!"

"What's the problem?" Daniel asked. "Name it and I shall fulfill the task!"

"Someone's after him, and you would never believe who it is…"**

*Meanwhile, back at the house, Ratchet had his third dream that night. This time, it was Mr. Ash having his first wish granted. He had just driven his semi-truck Darkside, and he had come to claim his prize: bringing Black back to the Underworld. Although, he did not know that Calypso had hidden the Ring of Souls at the time, so he had no idea that Black would be in a terrible condition.

"Ah… Mr. Ash," Calypso spoke as he sat on his throne and broke a smile on the burnt face that he bore at the time. "Nice to see that you have made it all the way!"

"I came for one thing that you stole for me, Calypso," Mr. Ash replied. "Come out of the shadows, Black!"

"Black?!" Calypso turned to see that Black was standing there, motionless and waiting for the next command from his master Mr. Ash.

"Black," Mr. Ash said as he faced Black standing there in the distance, "I gave you more power than any other Underworld creature, and you left! You left…" he hissed as pressed a button on a remote control that he held. This caused Black to malfunction and act like he has a terrible glitch (like a robot).

Calypso watched in horror as Black acted like this and screamed: "NO! BLACK! NO!" His face went pale as he saw Black walk towards Mr. Ash in response to the command. Mr. Ash laughed with glee as he saw Black climb slowly into the truck Darkside. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH BLACK?!" Calypso continued to scream. "NO! NO! BLACK! NO!"

"Let's go, Black," Mr. Ash spoke up again as he climbed onto the driver's seat of Darkside. "I'm taking you back home to where you belong." He turned to face Calypso and gave him his final words to him: "You stole my friend to help you grant people's wishes for this contest of yours. Your competition… your vision… is over for good. See you later, Calypso." And with that, he drove out of the garage and took off.

Ratchet woke up instantly and escaped that horrid nightmare. "What the heck is happening to me?!" he thought again. "It's like I've gone completely insane! I keep having these terrible nightmares that I can't seem to escape! What's with me?! I've got to pull myself together and put everything under control. I'll wake up Sly and ask him what I should do." Ratchet leaned his down the edge of the bunk-bed and whispered out Sly's name. "Hey," he whispered. "Sly! Are you awake?"

"Am now," Ratchet heard Sly reply in a very tired manner. "What do you want?! It's 4 in the morning!"

"I just wanted to ask you something."

"Make it quick!"

"Have you ever encountered any nightmarish dreams before? I've already gotten three in one night, which was tonight."

"They don't usually come around as often as they used to. I don't understand how you can be getting this all in one night."

"I don't either. I feel very ill."

"You just need to rest some more. Think about other things other than those crappy bad guys that you've been facing for a long while now. Good-night!" Sly forced his head to turn around and went right back to sleep.

"Well," Ratchet thought to himself after that conversation was over. "That surely wasn't very helpful at all. But maybe he's right; I just need a little more sleep, and I'll start thinking about all the good things that I've been through." And with that, he laid his head down onto his pillow again and started thinking about the good times that he had been through throughout his whole life. He thought about the time when he met Clank for the first time; when he met Sasha for the first time; when he found the mystery behind his two loving parents; when he avenged Emperor Tachyon of his parents' death; when exposed Needles' plan of selling all the prisoners he had captured; when he went to the Opposite Dimension and met Needles' split-personality Marcus; when he stopped Calypso's plot of sending Tyhrranoids down to Earth; and when he made this a heroic Christmas. But Ratchet now had only one purpose to look forward to finally putting into effect: bringing the bad guys back into the light.**

*Meanwhile, still that same night, the good Cole MacGrath was walking the streets as well, up until Raiden came up from behind him. "Is there something I can help you with?" Cole asked as he turned to face Raiden.

"What are you doing here?!" Raiden questioned in reply.

"Just looking for special people."

"Is it me?!"

"No! I…" Cole was right then cut off when Clank and Sir Daniel Fortesque came walking towards him and Raiden.

"That will be quite enough of this foolishness," Clank spoke up as he stopped in his tracks.

"Clank!" Raiden exclaimed as he drew his sword out of his sheath. "Look out, you little clown! Cole's had this coming for a long time!"

"Stay out of this, you hear?!" Cole added in. "Smart as you are, I can still…" But he was interrupted again as Clank reached out stretchable arms to grab him and Raiden by the wrists.

"Listen to me, both of you! We're supposed to be allies! What's happening to us?!"

Raiden wrenched Clank's hand away as he turned to face Cole again. "You got off pretty easy that time, mister. But if you ever cross me again…"

"Oh quiet, you electric eel!" Cole interrupted. "Didn't you hear the little guy?! He must be sensing some sort of trouble."

"And indeed there IS trouble!" Clank replied. "We need as many allies as we can possibly invite, so follow me and we'll find the rest."**

*****Again, back at the house, Ratchet began to have just one more dream. He dreamt about the time when Calypso won the Twisted Metal contest when Needles had taken over the competition itself. Calypso walked into Needles' throne room as he witnessed all these little clown minions that Needles had as his deadly pets. "Calypso," one of them spoke up. "You've effortlessly defeated all of your opponents in our Twisted Metal tournament! By Sweet Tooth's kindness and generosity, he is willing to grant you one wish as to what you desire."

"Spare me the rhetoric," Calypso replied. "You know what I want."

"Out of the question," the clown minion barked. "The competition and the ring stay with Sweet Tooth! Wish for something else!"

"But you have forgotten my rule: anything the winner desires will be his. And so, what I want is the ring; hand it over!" And with that, Calypso began pushing clown minions out of his way as he charged toward Needles, trying to take the Ring of Souls back to him. "It's mine!" he exclaimed as he and Needles fought over it. "You can't handle this, Sweet Tooth! Ohhh… beautiful ring!"

"Stop! STOP! You'll destroy us all!" the clown minion exclaimed. And indeed he was correct: the souls inside the ring began to shake and burst out of the burden that took them in and held them. This caused a gigantic explosion to go off, destroying the clock-tower building that everyone was in. It crumbled to pieces as Calypso and Needles hurried out the emergency exits. They made it out alive, but they took heavy casualties. All of Calypso's hair had been burnt off, as well as his eye being damaged.

Ratchet right away woke up from his final nightmare. He felt like the explosion burst through his whole body, burning him to a crisp. But he was okay, and yet he finally knew what the villains were up to. He had to tell his friends about it right away. It was already 8: 50 a.m., so this might have been the chance. However, he felt very weak after the experience with the four nightmares that he had all in one night.

He went down the stairs into the living room, where Sly Cooper was sitting on the couch and typing something on his laptop computer. When he looked up and saw Ratchet at the bottom of the stairs, that's when he knew that something was not right. "What's gotten into you, boy?" he said as he got up from his work. "It looks like you've got a disease for dogs. What is it? Distemper? Colon bacillus? Speak, Ratchet! What is it?!"

"I…" Ratchet tried to speak as he breathed heavily, "I still have something that Calypso is… looking for."

"We'll worry about that later," Sly replied as he laid Ratchet down on the couch. "Right now we've got to get you all fixed up. Where's Clank? I wonder where he's run off to. Nathan, can you please help me over here?"

"Sure," Nathan Drake said as he walked over to the couch. "What seems to be the problem?"

"We're in a bit of a situation here. Ratchet here is very ill, and he needs medical attention fast."

"It's not that," Ratchet complained as he tried to get back up. "It's just that… I need to go stop them! They must not come get me!"

"Man," Sly said as he set Ratchet back down. "This guy certainly needs a therapist. Where's Los Angeles Health Department?"

"No clue," Nathan replied. "But right now, give this guy a breathing tube! I can tell he's having trouble breathing!" So with that, Sly and Nathan basically made a little mini-hospital in their house, with Ratchet as their patient. Ratchet tried to reason with them about what he really needs to do; but every time he spoke, he would get nowhere with this.

Later on, as Nathan was analyzing Ratchet's insides, Sly had just solved the mystery about what was going on. "I think I know what it is! It's not a sickness at all."

"Well if it's not a sickness," Nathan replied, "then what IS IT?"

"It's probably what Ratchet had been given the day before Christmas Eve. Remember how he went mad and fed on Calypso's power? I thought I had gotten rid of it for good when I gave Ratchet that shot. But the thing is, I don't know how it made him turn back to good if he still has Calypso's power now."

"It's probably something related to that same type of operation from back in the Middle Ages. Barbers would use leeches to suck out the "bad blood" of patients. The whole "bad blood" case is only a myth, so all it basically did was make patients' conditions worse off than they first did. Also, the barbers would use scissors to perform something called "bloodletting," which is cutting through the veins in the arms of patients."

"So perhaps what I did," Sly came in, "was doing a little 'bad blood' operation, but not using leeches. Calypso's power must have an effect like that.

Hearing the word "scissors" made Ratchet more worrisome than ever. It reminded him how Sophie used a pair of scissors to fight her way out of her father Needles' grasp. "I need to go…" Ratchet kept on whimpering. "I've got to return those powers safely! I need answers!" With that, he wrenched himself off the couch and ripped off the breathing tube. He bashed out the door in a hurry; he was to fulfill the task that he now realized should be done.

"Holy crap!" Nathan exclaimed as he saw Ratchet run out of the neighborhood. "He just escaped our treatment!"

"What the heck are you talking about?!" Sly replied. "That was no treatment! Ratchet is trying to reach for something, and we've got to go see what he's after!"

"Fine then! Let's go!" And so, Nathan and Sly rushed out the door and started following Ratchet's trail towards Calypso Industries.******

*****Later, that same morning, Clank was walking along the streets of Los Angeles and met the most impossibly-guessed people to meet. He turned his head saw that whom he found was the one he needed to find. "Aha! Those are just the people I want to see." He went over to a corner of the street and came face-to-face with JAK AND DAXTER!

Daxter, sitting on Jak's shoulder, looked down and saw Clank standing there, and was surprised to see him again. "Well," he spoke up, "what if it isn't that little sidekick?" Jak looked down at Clank as well, started to see him there.

Clank remembered the first time when he met with Jak and Daxter and decided to play along with what they called each other that time. "Did that… uh… weasel creature just call me a sidekick?" he replied.

"WEASEL CREATURE!?" Daxter screamed. He may be hyper at times, but this was definitely a time when he just went berserk. He reached down Jak's backpack, pulled out his gun, and dropped it into Jak's hands. "Show him, Jak! Show him what we're worth!"

"Now, now," Clank replied. "I'm sure there is a reasonable solution we can arrive at. I want to ask you something; and this is very important."

"Okay," Jak slipped his gun back into his backpack and kneeled down to hear Clank more clearly. "What is it you need?"******

*****Now we come to the greatest moment in this story. What you have read so far is only the beginning; now, it's time that the puzzle pieces finally come together.

Ratchet reached the building of Calypso Industries and ran into there like a mad dog possessed. He went down the main hall and into the same room where Calypso, Mr. Ash, Minion, and Black stated their plan. Slowly and carefully, Ratchet checked all corners of the room to see if there was anyone there waiting for him to be put to his misery and death. But there was nobody there at the moment, so Ratchet felt like he was safe.

Right then, his phone rang and vibrated inside his pocket. He picked it up and read who was calling: SLIKSLY KULER (Sly Cooper's internet name). He answered as his hands shook with fear and weariness. "What do you want?!" he panted.

"Ratchet," Sly replied on the other line. "Where are you heading for? Nathan and I are looking for you!"

"I can't talk right now. But all I can say is… I think I found the main computer. If I can get into those files and find the evidence that I need, I can finally know the real truth."

"You're at Calypso Industries?"

"Yeah. Where are YOU at?"

"I think I found where our clown buddy has been sleeping."

"You found his bedroom?"

"I think so. I see all these old lists and posters about the Twisted Metal contest scattered across the floor. These were all from back then, originating from the year 1995. It's pretty strange. I also see all these diaries and journals of all the contestants who died in those fights. One of them has the name 'Krista Sparks' on it. Do you recognize it?"

"Of course I do! That's Calypso's daughter! I thought you already knew; she's still in that coma, and she's waking up until fifteen years later."

"I don't think so. It says here in Needles' journal that she is now DEAD!"

"What?! That can't be right! What does it say?!"

"It says here that after the warp explosion, Krista wanted to hunt down all celebrities and desired to become a supermodel fashion star. She then suffered from a car accident and received a scar. She thought that it did not make her beautiful anymore, so she sought for help. Some guy deceived her and gave her the mask of Dollface, making her the new Dollface of the world. She was tricked and could not get the mask off no matter how hard she tried. So she entered into the Twisted Metal contest to wish for her to be the greatest supermodel ever. She did not want the mask off anymore; she wanted to 'shine' better than anyone else. But Calypso tricked her, and it led to her death."

Ratchet turned to face the wall and saw that THE DOLLFACE MASK WAS HUNG UP ON THE SHELF! "So…" he whimpered, "this is what she has become?! Why… WHY DOES EVERONE HAVE TO BE SUCH MONSTERS!" That was the last thing he said before the whole room became drenched in silence. He hung up his phone and slowly walked over to the main computer to unlock the evidence that had been hidden from him all this time.

Ratchet brought the computer out of its "sleep mode," and it brought up the password entrance area. He did not know what to do at first, and so he typed in all these random words related to the situation such as: "sweettooth," "calypso," "ring," "icecream," "twistedmetal," "1995," and others. But then, Ratchet found that there was a PlayStation 4 Dualshock 4 controller lying on the desk, so he picked it up and thought of what buttons to press. He was an expert on video games, so he thought of all these button passwords to punch in. The access was granted when he punched in the password with the controller: L1, Up, Down, Left, Up, L1, Triangle, Right, Up, Down, L1, R1.

He quickly searched across the desktop of the system and found the main files titled "Twisted Metal 2008." This was the time when the souls were released from the ring. Ratchet was able to find the footage of it all taken by the security camera that recorded it all. He watched how after the clock-tower building blew up, some kid that witnessed it all had found the ring lying there on the floor. It was not until years later that Mr. Ash was able to find the ring and take it back to Black.

Ratchet also found the footage of all the moments that Needles, his father Charlie, Mr. Ash, and Krista Sparks got their wishes granted after winning the Twisted Metal competition. It all seemed very sad to Ratchet how they all either became so evil or suffered. He could not bear this any longer, so he shut off the video footage and took a deep breath. He wanted to confront the traitorous ones and bring them back to the light where they once were. But before he could do anything, he heard someone's voice speaking behind him: "You shouldn't even be here!"

Ratchet turned and saw that Mr. Ash was standing right there. "It's all over," Mr. Ash said as he did a little laugh.

"Uh-oh," Ratchet thought to himself. "I'm in big trouble now!"******

*****Meanwhile, back at the house, Clank had now assembled a league of heroes that would help free Ratchet from this evil that threatens him. The men that Clank had brought together were: Galactic President Qwark, Dr. Nefarious, Cole MacGrath, Raiden, Jak, Daxter, Sir Daniel Fortesque, and Sackboy. He thought that they could be trusted enough to listen to the plan that he had in mind to rescue Ratchet. But Qwark (we can call him CAPTAIN Qwark for now) was not listening as much; he was too busy adoring himself and kissing his own muscles.

"Qwark!" Clank spoke up at him. "Did you even hear about one word I said?!"

"Huh?" Qwark replied as he put his arm down. "The who and the what now? Let's see…" He tried to guess what they were supposed to do and "collected" what he only heard Clank say: "We have to deal with this ring thing, so it must be a wedding. And we meet Jack Black on the way, I suppose. Well, I better get a notepad for him to write his autograph on."

Clank slapped his own face in frustration. "You did not listen to me, Qwark! I meant: making sure that the Underworld creature Black does not kill Ratchet in order to gain back the power that he has! That is what I mean!"

"Oh. Right. I guess I got too carried away."

"Anyway, Dr. Nefarious, take this script so that you and Qwark can make that false phone call. The rest of us will be waiting in the big truck."

"What big truck?"

"The big truck that we just rented to use for our plan, you idiot!"

"Oh… right!" So, Qwark and Dr. Nefarious went over to a nearby telephone and laid out the script for the plan. Qwark flipped open a phone book and looked through to find the main phone number of Calypso Industries.

"You better disguise your voice," Dr. Nefarious spoke up. "We should not let them recognize who you really are. Otherwise, they'll know it's a trick."

"Fine," Qwark replied. "I got you covered." With that, he put on a disguise (big glasses and a mustache) out of his own foolery.

Dr. Nefarious slapped his own face as well. "It's not like anyone will SEE you over the PHONE!"

"Just relax, and we'll do it."******

*****Later, back at Calypso Industries, Ratchet was ordered to stand with his back against the wall. Calypso, Black, Minion, Mr. Ash, Needles, Charlie (Needles' son), Sophie, Mr. Grimm, and Yoshimitsu had already come to the scene and were now pointing rifles at Ratchet, beginning the execution that would end his life.

"LET'S HURRY UP AND GET ON WITH IT!" Black spoke up. "I WANT MY SUPERIOR POWERS BACK!"

"Patience, Black," Mr. Ash replied. "We'll get it done quickly."

"HALT!" someone shouted from the other room. Right after that, two figures (Colonel Radec and Evil Cole MacGrath) stepped into the scene to participate in the execution that was about to begin.

"So you've finally come," Calypso said as he watched them come in. "What took you so long?"

"We had to deal with Big Daddy first," Evil Cole replied. "Kratos manipulated his mind so that he would obey orders, destroy the Tyhrranoid control ship, and act like a hero. But we took care of his system. He's as good as new."

"Good! Let's begin, shall we?"

"Don't mind if I do," Evil Cole said as he grabbed a gun and aimed it at Ratchet.

"I would be most pleased to participate in this," Radec spoke in.

Ratchet looked ahead at Needles, standing there and pointing a gun to prepare for this tragic event. "Marcus," Ratchet spoke up.

"I told you!" Needles exclaimed. "I DON'T WANT TO BE MARCUS! I NEVER WANT TO BE HIM! I HATE HIM! I MURDERED HIM!"

"But that's who you really are," Ratchet replied. "I know there is still good in you! Please, Marcus! I wish you would give up your evil ways become a family-loving man again! Everyone still loves you! Even I do too."

This made Needles scream at the top of his lungs, exploding in anger and frustration. "I DON'T WANT MY OLD LIFE BACK! I'd rather be myself! For a butcher like me, well boys and girls, this is me! And it shall remain that way! And don't say that anyone loves me! Love never existed, and it never will at all!"

"Don't you say that Marcus! Your family always loved you no matter what! There is still time for you to follow the path of peace! And I'm willing to bring the good back into you!"

"How many times do I have to tell you!? I LOVE THE WAY I AM!" Tensions worsened after all that was said. Needles lifted his pistol back up to point at Ratchet. "Let's end this here and now! I've been itching to shoot this little idiot down! I now know why he even bothers to come see us, Calypso: he wants to put our 'love' back on track!"

Calypso sneered at Ratchet and spoke up again: "Is this true?! Is this what you've been trying to do to us all along?!"

"Yes, William," Ratchet replied. "Where has your love for your daughter been?!"

"What do you mean!? She soon became evil after the warp explosion; it drove her MAD! That was now the way it was, so I allowed her to die!"

"Oh my gosh, William… WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"

"I don't want to hear any more about it! I want to see your dead corpse bleeding on the floor right now! You're done for! And don't say any last words! I don't even want to hear you call me by the William. It may be my real name, but the name Calypso is where I live it up most. READY!" Calypso gave the command for all the villains to hold their guns up and aim perfectly at Ratchet. "AIM!"

"So…" Ratchet thought to himself, "this is the end. My life is over. My greatest purpose is now a failure. I'm sorry, dad! I did my best, but I failed you! Now I may die with here, and I will come and join you!"

But before Calypso can shout "fire," a nearby telephone rang. This greatly disturbed Calypso, and he did not want to be held back from this moment. "Should we answer it?" Needles asked.

"No!" Calypso replied. "Let it finish its ringing, then we'll get on with this. For now, leave it alone." But no matter how many times the phone rang, it would not stop at all. "Fine," Calypso spoke up again. "Go answer it, one of you! The rest of you hold up!"

Quickly, Needles walked over to the phone, picked it up, and answered it. "Hello! Calypso Industries main office! How may I help you?"

"Hi," a voice replied on the other line. It was Captain Qwark, following along with the plan that Clank formulated. While wearing his useless disguise, he was disguising his voice and speaking it low so that no one can recognize it. As he read the script that Dr. Nefarious held up for him, he spoke through the phone: "This is Abercrombie Fizzwidget. If you want to know more secrets about the Ring of Souls, just drop five hundred dollars off at the First National Bank of America at 00:11."

Dr. Nefarious gasped after hearing what Qwark had just said. What he just said was not part of the script at all. Nefarious looked down at the script written on paper and noticed that page he was holding was upside down; so he brought it right-side up to give Qwark a "boost of knowledge." Upside down the paper said "00:11," but right-side up it said "11:00." "NO! NO! You got it all wrong!" Nefarious exclaimed as he showed Qwark the paper right-side up.

Qwark took a good look at the paper and said: "Oh, sorry. I mean at eleven o'clock tomorrow. If you have any questions, just dial 555-555-5555."

On the other line, Needles thought to himself: "Such a weird phone number. But I'm buying this anyway." With that, he hung up the phone and walked over to the other villains, who were impatiently waiting for the execution to begin. "I got good news for you all," Needles spoke up to everyone. "We're going to get more information about the Ring of Souls!"

"That can't be right," Mr. Ash replied. "Only I have created the ring, and I know everything about it! This might be some sort of trick that the good guys are planning."

"Maybe you're right, and maybe you aren't. But in the meantime, let's finish this!" Needles pointed his gun at Ratchet again, ready to fire and end the life of one of the last Lombaxes that lived. Ratchet was only a little over twenty years old, so it would be sad how he would die so early in his life. But it was like his father Kaden; he died when Ratchet was only zero years of age.

But before any villain can pull the trigger of their guns, they heard the knocking of a door coming from downstairs. This greatly bothered and disturbed everyone, but Calypso had a brilliant idea right then. "Wait a minute! I have an idea! Everyone follow me downstairs! If this execution is going to take place at all, let it happen where people can see it happen. Follow me!" The doors of the main entrance of the Calypso Industries building were double-glass doors, so everyone would be able to see through and watch Ratchet die right there.

Once everyone reached the main entrance, they put Ratchet against the wall again and answered the door. "I'll answer it," Evil Cole spoke up. He opened the door and saw that Captain Qwark was standing there holding five pizza trays. Evil Cole did not recognize Qwark at first; Qwark had a fake goatee plus a handsome hair wig (like Tony Stark), and was wearing a pizza delivery uniform. "What do you want?" Evil Cole said to him.

"Uh… hi!" Qwark replied in another disguised voice. This time, it was a higher-pitched tone (like a lady's). Ratchet turned and saw Qwark; he easily recognized him by the shape of the body and personality.

"I'm saved!" Ratchet thought to himself. "I finally have help and backup!"

"I've got a free pizza delivery here for you!" Qwark continued, hilariously smiling.

"We didn't order any pizza, cowboy!" Evil Cole replied. "You must have the wrong address!"

"Oh… but this is FREE pizza! Look; I even have some candy pizza for Needles Kane!"

"WHAT?!" Needles exclaimed as he turned to see Qwark holding the pizzas. "That's my favorite one of them all! Bring those in! We'll celebrate this event by having such delectable pizzas!"

Qwark turned his head to face the truck that was parked behind him. Using his normal voice, he yelled out: "NOW!" That was the cue for the truck to come and crash through the building. It drove through the entrance of the building, also damaging the walls and lights that stood. Everyone managed to duck out of the way, including Ratchet, and they all looked at the truck that burst through their building and ruined the execution.

Qwark took off his wig, makeup, and costume; and he revealed himself to the villains as the real Galactic President Qwark. "Good evening adoring fans of the pain that will soon come to you!" he said with a big grin. He motioned with his hand to the ones driving the truck, and eight figures ran out of the trunk. Clank, Sackboy, Raiden, Cole MacGrath, Sir Daniel Fortesque, Jak, Daxter, and Dr. Nefarious burst out of the trunk and charged toward the eleven villains that stood before them.

"My friends!" Ratchet thought as his heart leaped with relief and excitement. "They've come to help me! Now things are starting to look up! I'm in for this battle! But I will not kill Needles and Calypso; I must bring them back to the good nature that I know is still in them!" With that, Clank tossed Ratchet his Omniwrench, and the battle began.

"Welcome back to the team, Ratchet!" Clank called out. "We're here to help!"

"Thanks buddy!" Ratchet replied. "Nice to see how you brought all these other guys." He turned and saw that Jak and Daxter had come as well. "Jak and Daxter?!"

"At your service, Ratchet!" Jak replied as he brought out his gun and began firing at Minion.

Things were starting to become very action-packed throughout the whole scenery. Later on, Sly Cooper and Nathan Drake came into the scene after doing enough investigating in Needles' room. Quickly, Nathan ran over to Raiden and paired up with him to fire guns at the villains. "Well," Nathan spoke up, "there you are! Why did you leave us?!"

Raiden faced Nathan and replied: "I work alone, you must know! I was tired of being put up with all this trouble that these psychotic clowns keep hoisting on us!"

Sly ran over to Ratchet and ducked inside the trunk of the truck. "Ratchet," he spoke up, "I found something very mysterious about Charlie Kane!"

"What is it?!" Ratchet replied. "Tell me now!"

"Would you believe me if I told you?!"

"Just tell me!"

"….Charlie Kane had another son, and they both wanted to kill Needles!"

"WHAT?!"

"I'm serious! Let me tell you this: Charlie had another son (Needles would not give away the name at all), and they were the best friends that really loved each other. He was all Charlie had after Needles became the most wanted killer. One day, a mad passenger from the backseat of Charlie's taxi cab shot Charlie in the head, thus killing him. So the son created this electric remote that would bring his father back to life and would control him. Although, Charlie was brought back unintentionally as a zombie. So the son entered into the Twisted Metal contest to ask Calypso for everything to be okay. The son wanted his father Charlie back as a normal-living human being. But Calypso tricked him and destroyed the remote, thus ending the sad life of Charlie Kane."

"So…" Ratchet said as he stared off into space thinking about this. "That is how Charlie Kane died!"

"Exactly," Sly replied. "I'm sorry."

"No…" Ratchet began to bring up a sense of revenge and hatred in both his mind and body. "I will not let this HAPPEN!" With that, he charged out of the trunk and started running the fastest he had ever ran, heading straight for Needles. He stopped right where Needles stood on his knees, struggling to get back up onto his feet.

"Ratchet!" Needles said when he saw Ratchet stop where he was. "Why are you staring down stupidly at me?! Are you still thinking about your one purpose this whole time!? Well let me tell you something bub! IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!"

Minion caught sight of Ratchet and started charging towards him with all his might. But right when he was about to raise his hand to strike out, Ratchet tossed his Omniwrench and made it pin Minion down to the floor, trapping him by the neck. "If you ever lay a hand on this man," Ratchet hissed, "I'll kill you!"

"WHAT THE HECK!?" Needles exclaimed. "Why are you protecting me if we both know that I'm now a BAD GUY!?"

"Because I know that there is still good in you! Please, Marcus! You mustn't do this to us! We're your friends, and we want to help you!"

"OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! I DON'T HAVE FRIENDS!"

"Marcus, please! Come back to the light! Face up for what you've done! I can help you!"

"It's too late for that! YOU'RE too late! You only want to help yourself!"

"You know that's not true!"

Needles kicked Ratchet's leg and tripped him down to the floor. Minion was able to break free of the Omniwrench that held him down, so Needles quickly grabbed it and snatched it away. Needles then drew out his machete in one hand, with the Omniwrench in the other, ready to slice across Ratchet's head and end his life. "There is nowhere to run now, Ratchet! You have tried to bring me back to good, and you have failed! Say good-bye, Ratchet!"

But before Needles could make his move, he saw something that grabbed his attention. He looked up and saw that the giant ice cream truck Dark Tooth was standing right in front of him and Ratchet. "YOU WILL BE DELETED!" it spoke. "YOU WILL BE DELETED!"

Inside the truck sat Black, sitting in the driver's seat. He spoke up and announced everyone a big warning: "IF YOU DO NOT SURRENDER THE POWERS, RATCHET, I DETONATE DARK TOOTH IN FIVE MINUTES! SURRENDER IMMEDIATELY OR DIE BY FORCE!" With that, he set Dark Tooth to self-destruct in a limit of ten minutes. That's when the pressure of this battle started to increase.

"You hear that Ratchet?" Needles said as he faced Ratchet again. "You better die now before my father's creation does! Surrender now!" The Omniwrench and the machete crossed each other, ready for the final killing. Ratchet panted heavily and felt like he was sweating blood out of the strongest fear that he had ever faced.

"And I thought you were a loving father," Ratchet spoke up again.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I'm not some LOVING father, you know! I survived everything, your father didn't, that makes me SUPERIOR!" A loving father and husband, now a wanted killer leading a sad and treacherous life. It seemed like nothing was going to be better now. "Shut up and bleed, you mother-hot-fudge…" Needles growled as he sneered.

"This is the end…" Ratchet thought to himself as the Omniwrench and machete drew much closer to his neck. "Good-bye Marcus!" Needles was going to do the kill until…

Something shot Ratchet! Everyone heard a cry coming from Nathan screaming: "RATCHET!"

Needles and Ratchet heard the firing of a gun go off. The next thing that Needles immediately saw was a tiny hole in Ratchet's chest, with blood stained on there. He then turned to see that Mr. Ash was standing there; he had just now made the move that was supposed to be made. "It is done," Mr. Ash said as he stood there proud of himself. "You can rest easy now, Black. He's done for. Use the ring now!"

Black stepped out of Dark Tooth and walked towards the dying Ratchet that laid there on the floor. The ring was now ready to receive the energy back from the Lombax who took it, then died giving it back. Ratchet felt like he was floating clear in the air; indeed he was being levitated, while the power of the Ring of Souls was exiting him. Red and yellow energy was swarming and swirling and twisting around Ratchet's entire body, then it flew over to the ring that was put on Black's finger. Black tingled and jiggled with excitement as he collected back the power; it increased his strength and image a thousand-fold.

Once the process was completed, everyone took a good look at Black. With his power back, he was now more bigger than ever. His face was now completely visible, with his eyes very fiery and burning with scorching fire. His shape was very muscular and bulky, and he wore a spiky cape made out of bat wings. "Finally," Black spoke up (his voice changed to a very rough and tough tone). "I now have the power to destroy this entire earth! That's what I've been born to do! I was made to cause the earth to explode and come to an end! Now to take the soul of Ratchet to make this the ultimate soul that I've taken!"

Black pointed his ring at Ratchet, waiting for the soul to come to him. But after waiting for about one minute, nothing happened. "What's taking too long?! Why isn't his soul coming to me?! Has it already been gone with the wind?"

Ratchet's eyes slowly opened, squinted, and looked up at a worried-looking Nathan. "It's not real," Ratchet quietly whispered. "I'm just play possum."

"WHAT THE-?! HE'S FAKING IT!" Mr. Ash exclaimed as he pointed at Ratchet. "My bullet did not kill him?! WHAT THE HECK?!"

But before anyone else could make a move and strike back at Ratchet, they heard the sound of a television set being turned on. They looked up at the higher portion of a wall and saw that a monitor (a TV screen) had been activated. What showed up on the screen made everyone gasp in shock. "FATHER!" Needles exclaimed as he saw who was on the screen. It was his father Charlie Kane; this transmission message was filmed years ago when he was about to use Dark Tooth to strike out at "the one who killed his son."

"You have no time," Charlie spoke up as his face was drenched in tears. "You have no chance of survival! You took my son away from me, the one that I love throughout all the years of my life! You took him away from me, evil ones! You twisted his mind and made him a killer! This is not what I want my son to be! I want him back with me in my arms, back to being the loving son that I know! Marcus, even your other brother would want you back with us! Now is my chance to find you! But if I dare fail, then I know one other person who would be more than willing to do it. Ratchet, if you can hear me, I want you to remember this. If you have found my oldest son Marcus, then you have accomplished what I wanted to do. Please do everything you can to bring him back to the light where he belongs. Your parents may be dead, but this would be what your father wanted. I believe in you, Ratchet! I can count on you!" With that, the transmission message ended. Charlie had clearly stated what would soon come. He knew about the species of the Lombax, and how Emperor Tachyon had taken over their home planet Festoon. He believed that Ratchet would be the one who would change his son Marcus Kane.

Ratchet looked up, with hope in his mind and heart. "Thanks, Charlie," he spoke up. "You can count on me."

But Needles was MAD! He started kneeling and pounding the floor hard. "NO! NO! NO! It's not supposed to be this way!"

"But it's what your father wants!" Ratchet replied as he stood back up to his feet. "He loves you with his whole heart, and he doesn't want to lose you at all! You're his son; you can't hate him."

"I'm sorry, chum! But that's the way things have to be from now on! I am Sweet Tooth, do you hear?! I AM SWEET TOOTH!"

"I am not going to call you that anymore, Marcus. Things need to be changed! I'm not trying to force you or anything, but your father needs you! I need you."

"My father's dead! He won't be needing me anymore!"

"Even so! Please, Marcus! Don't do this!"

"You said that to me three times already! Sorry, buddy, but no matter how much you beg for me to come crawling back to my father's tomb, I'm not coming back no matter what!"

But before anyone can anything else, Dark Tooth still stood there, and a voice came from the giant clown head on the top. "DETONATION IN TEN SECONDS!" Black completely forgot to turn off the self-destruct system that he implanted in there. Dark Tooth was going to explode in ten seconds.

"Uh-oh," Black said as he bashed out of the crowd of heroes and villains. "GANGWAY!" Pretty soon, everyone started to burst out of the Calypso Industries building. They did not want to face the threat of Dark Tooth's detonating explosion that would kill anyone if touched. Everyone made it out safely, avoiding the great explosion that blew up pretty much everything.

After the only thing left was flames, engulfing the rest of the building. "My beautiful company…" Calypso spoke up, "now gone! What will I ever do next?!"

"Quiet you fool," Mr. Ash replied as he pulled Calypso by the arm. "We should leave before any of the good guys catch us!"

"Hands off, you freak!" Calypso said as he jerked his arm away. "I'm starting to get tired of being on anyone else's side! I'm going my own way from now on!" And with that, he ran off to hide from the fire trucks and ambulances that soon came rolling down the street.

"You know," Needles thought as he saw Calypso and the others run off into their separate ways. "I think this is indeed a good idea. Whatever I do from now on, I do alone!" So he quickly ran off to his ice cream truck and sped off into the light of the late morning's sun. It was only 10:50 a.m.

Black got up from the ground, exhausted, and looked down at his own body to find out that he lost his powerful form. He looked at all the fingers on both of his hands and noticed that the Ring of Souls was missing from him. "WHERE'S THE RING!?" he spoke up as he looked down at the ground, searching for it. "I LOST IT! WHERE DID IT GO?!"

"Come on, Black!" Minion motioned to him. "We'll worry about it later. We can always come back here."

"BUT WHAT IF SOMEBODY FINDS IT?!"

"Bah! He won't hold it for long! Now come with me! Mr. Ash is waiting." And so, they took off.

At the same time, Charlie (Needles' son), Sophie, Evil Cole, Radec, Mr. Grimm, and Yoshimitsu took off to their own separate ways; leaving the heroes, firemen, and doctors as the only ones here on the scene. From inside one of the ambulances stepped out Needles' split-personality Marcus, Mayor Sasha Phyronix, and her father President Phyronix (president of the Salona Galaxy). They decided to form together as a little group and help Ratchet in his time of danger.

"Need a lift," Marcus spoke up as carried Ratchet over to a patient's cot. "You've got a little bullet in that chest of yours, buddy."

"Well…" Ratchet replied as he was being laid down on the cot, "most villains like to play with guns. Thanks, man."

"Any time," Marcus said as he pulled a warming smile.******

** ***Later, at a nearby hospital, Ratchet was taken to an operating room where the bullet from Mr. Ash's gun would be dug out. Before the operation began, Clank stood at Ratchet lying on the hospital bed. "Well…" he spoke up, "it's nice to see that you've actually managed to survive that impact. Especially with that bullet nudged into your chest there."

"That's just me, Clank," Ratchet replied. "Although, I still do have a bad feeling about what I did back there. I must say that my mission was a complete failure." The head-tails on the back of his head drooped down in sorrow.

"What do you mean?" Clank asked.

"Think about it Clank. I was supposed to bring the real Marcus Kane back into the life that he had lived before he became this monster. I just want to fulfill this purpose that his father Charlie had wished for, and I failed instead. You heard what the clown said: he isn't coming back."

"But there is always a chance for next time," Clank assured as he tried to cheer Ratchet up. "What you wish for may not happen at the right time, but there is always a next time. Who knows; maybe it will happen in the near future?"

"Thanks, Clank. By the way, it was pretty cool how you brought all those guys to come help us in that battle."

"Oh! That was indeed pretty cool. But, after that battle, they wanted to ask you something. They wanted to join our group of heroes and be with us in our next battles against the evil ones."

"Really?! Wow! Now we've got ourselves a much bigger league of heroes! This is amazing!"

Right then, Marcus (the split-personality of Needles; not the real Needles; I know they both have the same name) walked into the room. He motioned for Clank to go get some certain special tools, and he spoke up: "It's time for the operation to begin. I'll give you something special to put you to sleep, Ratchet."

"Do what you must do, guys," Ratchet replied. "I'll be willing to take this."******

** ***Much later, after the operation was completed successfully, Ratchet still lied on his bed, recovering from what had just transpired. Captain Qwark, Nathan Drake, and Sly Cooper stood talking with him, also recalling about the battles from the past and present. They talked about their experience throughout the battles at Veldin, Needles' prison building, the Opposite Dimension, Los Angeles, the orphanage, the sewers, the local park, and the Calypso Industries building.

"Do you feel any better," Nathan said after all was settled.

Ratchet scratched his head nervously and felt something stuffy in his nose. "I'd say I'm only a little bit better. Sly could be right about one thing: I might have caught some sort of sickness."

"What?! Now!?"

"Yeah, but it's not what dogs catch. I take it I have a cold." And indeed he was right; for after about two seconds, he sneezed a really big one.

Sly smiled and stepped forward a little. "I guess I was right after all," he said.

"I think I got it from you, Qwark," Ratchet said as he pointed toward Captain Qwark standing there.

Qwark stood there looking embarrassed about what he did. "Uh-oh. I think I'm in trouble now. I take it I also sneezed on those pizzas that I was 'delivering' to the villains. But they deserved that. Sweet Tooth must be at home sick now after eating that candy pizza that he took with him when he snuck out of the explosion's result. By the way, which villain was Black?"

"We'll explain it to you later," Nathan replied. He turned to Sly and said: "Sly, go put that good sauce in a bowl of soup for this guy."

"Right away," Sly replied as he ran off.

"Well," Ratchet continued, "the real Marcus may have gotten away from my plan, but I'll find him one day! I swear it, I swear to ALL of you, I swear to his father Charlie, I'll find Marcus and make him the nicest man that ever lived! I swear it!" And so it was said. This story is now over. I am no longer writing any more fanfiction stories. I've already done enough of fanfiction writing. But this was a tremendous way of ending my twentieth Coleiosis fanfiction story! Good-bye to all!


End file.
